Fighters from the Islamic State parade with their equipment on July 1 in Raqqa, Syria. Militants displayed U.S.-made Humvees, heavy machine guns and missiles captured from the Iraqi army. / Raqqa Media Center via AP

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

by Jim Michaels, USA TODAY

BAGHDAD - In confronting Islamic State militants in Iraq, the United States and its allies are facing, for the first time, a terrorist group equipped like a conventional army.

The militants' conventional firepower and mobility have allowed the group to seize and hold large swaths of territory in Iraq.

"ISIL is as sophisticated and well-funded as any group that we have seen," Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday, referring to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant, the group's former title. "They're beyond just a terrorist group."

Meanwhile, Iraq's military has struggled when confronting Islamic State forces. Its army recently launched a second attempt to drive Islamic State forces from Tikrit, a city 80 miles north of the capital of Baghdad, but the offensive has stalled in the face of strong resistance from the militants.

Successes by the Iraqi government in the north stem from the use of elite counterterrorism troops, Kurdish forces and American air support.

Much of Iraq's conventional armed forces have fallen back to Baghdad in order to protect the capital.

"If we fail in Baghdad, it will be a disaster," said Brig. Gen. Saad Maan Ibrahim, a spokesman for the Interior Ministry.

When Islamic State forces captured Mosul in June, four Iraqi divisions collapsed, leaving behind much of their equipment, including top-of-the-line tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers and tons of ammunition.

The militants were able to use much of the equipment they captured, thanks largely to support and training from former Iraqi officers who felt alienated by the Shiite-dominated government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and joined the Islamic State, said Sterling Jensen, an assistant professor at the United Arab Emirates' National Defense College in Abu Dhabi.

The militants have also gained extensive combat experience in Syria, where they have been fighting government troops loyal to Bashar Assad.

"They're very well-organized," said Lt. Gen. William Mayville, the operations officer for the Joint Staff at the Pentagon. "They are very well-equipped. They coordinate their operations. And they have thus far shown the ability to attack on multiple axes."

That differs significantly from enemies whom the United States faced earlier in Iraq and Afghanistan, where militants generally operated in small groups using weapons limited to small arms.

The Islamic State has also shown itself to be adept at communicating and controlling its forces, a challenging feat because they are spread over vast distances in Iraq. They use cellphones and the Internet to command and control forces.

The group has also made smart use of the Internet to intimidate and frighten. Videos of militant atrocities undermined the morale of soldiers in Mosul prior to the June attack, said Col. Ali al-Majidi, an Iraqi brigade commander deployed west of Baghdad. The propaganda, combined with corrupt commanders, caused many soldiers to flee before a shot was fired.

Iraqi leaders say they are working on rebuilding their forces and considering ways to establish local security forces.

"We took lessons from our experience in Mosul," said Mohammed Naji, a member of Parliament.

Analysts say it's unlikely that the Islamic State will be able to hold territory for long, and the militants' conventional style of warfare will end up as a disadvantage.

Political reconciliation, along with increased confidence from U.S. airstrikes, will help Iraq's army reconstitute and begin taking back territory, said Jensen, who has extensive experience in Iraq as a political adviser and translator for U.S. troops. The Islamic State will ultimately have to revert to guerrilla tactics as Iraqi army and police drive the militants underground, he added.

"If ISIL is intent on holding this amount of space, they're going to lose."